The present invention relates generally to vehicle doors, and more particularly to an emergency-locking latch assembly that secures a vehicle door in a closed position when the vehicle door is subjected to a substantial acceleration.
Vehicle doors are commonly equipped with latch assemblies for securing the vehicle doors in a closed position. These latch assemblies can also be utilized for selectively releasing the vehicle doors from the closed position and allowing those doors to be swung open.
A typical latch assembly includes one or more ratchets for engaging corresponding striking pins that extend from a door jam of the vehicle. Each ratchet usually is coupled to a series of intermediate release levers for causing the ratchet to disengage from the striking pin. These intermediate release levers ordinarily are coupled to and operated by one or more actuation mechanisms, e.g. inside and outside door handles. A drawback of these latch assemblies is that they can become inoperable in a collision.
It would therefore be desirable to provide an improved latch assembly that secures a vehicle door in a closed position when the vehicle is subjected to a vehicle collision or various other conditions that impart a substantial acceleration upon the vehicle door.